Mayor Robert Romano has supported legal gun ownership most of his life.
He got his first pistol -- a .38 special -- when he joined the city's Police Department in 1974 and currently owns four registered handguns. He believes people have the right to own guns, but must do it legally.Now, the cop-turned-mayor's stance on illegal guns is drawing fire from the nation's most active gun-rights group.
Shortly after taking office last fall, Romano joined Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition of hundreds of mayors across the country dedicated to enforcing proper gun ownership.
The NRA is very effective in bringing about political change. When they decided to attack the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, what they did was mail postcards to their members in selected areas urging them to make their disapproval of the mayor known. So powerful is this mechanism of the democratic process that the overall number of mayors belonging to the group dropped. It seems to me this is a type of lobbying trick that has nothing to do with what's right or what's best. It doesn't even concern itself with what the majority want. It only seeks to achieve an agenda. Here is Mayor Romano's response.
"People that obtain guns illegally or carry guns illegally, that's what I'm against," Romano said. "I don't want people to think I'm against legal guns. I'm not."He has made that clear to the dozen or so local NRA members who have contacted him since receiving the NRA's mailing last week.
The NRA urged its New Jersey members to call, e-mail and write Romano and other mayors to ask them to support law-abiding gun owners and publicly disassociate themselves with the coalition.
The tactic has worked, with dozens of mayors dropping their association. Romano, though, says he won't be swayed.
He is one of 38 mayors in New Jersey remaining in the coalition -- a drop from 43 last week.
"As a mayor, we should be consolidated together to fight against illegal guns because that's the biggest issue police are fighting today," Romano said.
Who could have anything but respect for a man like that? He says the Mayors Against Illegal Guns is not an anti-gun organization, but rather it's anti-crime. What's your opinion? Do you think it's possible that the Mayors Against Illegal Guns and the Brady Campaign and the others are actually doing what they say they are doing, which is trying to find ways to reduce the gun violence? Do you think it's possible that these people are well-intentioned in their efforts?
Isn't it clear that the NRA, on the other hand, is only interested in accomplishing an agenda, the agenda being, to block and resist anything and everything that has to do with gun control? Or, are they well-intentioned as well?
Please leave a comment.
What's your opinion?
